Monthly Archive: February 2015

Greetings fellow frugal weirdos, Mr. Frugalwoods here! Welcome to Part 4 of our Frugal Homestead Series, which explores the finer points of how we’re going to reach our version of financial independence and move to a homestead in the woods in 2017 at age 33. Mrs. Frugalwoods and I plan to buy 20+ acres of wooded land, likely with an existing home and outbuildings, in rural southern Vermont. Part 3 of the series addressed why we’ve selected southern Vermont as our...

We’ve all gotta have it, we’ve all gotta buy it (except for the freegans among us), it’s a necessary part of life, yet the ways to consume it range from five star to down home. I’m speaking, of course, about every frugal weirdo’s favorite topic (second to greyhounds): food. Grocery bills and eating out can wreck a budget–or, they can be reined in and rational. I think it’s all too easy to assume that our groceries are...

What does it take to be a frugal weirdo? We all have our spending weaknesses. You know, those things we look at every month and say “I know it’s expensive, but…” and then insert some sort of justification/excuse/guttural groan. But what if you didn’t have any of those expenses? What if absolutely everything you paid money for was under scrutiny, was being “challenged” as Budgets Are Sexy would say. Here’s the thing: if you have pants-on-fire...

Grumble It’s a rare week that I commence with a grumble. But, Mr. Frugalwoods is on a business trip in San Francisco, which means I’ve been shoveling a lot of snow… I mean, missing him terribly! In between knocking icicles off our roof with a broom, I’ve been thinking about the nature of our relationship and why it’s so disruptive for one of us to be absent from the home front. Being Apart = Bad Mr. Frugalwoods and...

A note to new readers: while we often delve deeply into financial topics (such as Behind the Scenes of a Happy Frugal Marriage and Well Hot Damn, Frugality Works! Our 2014 Savings Rate Revealed), we also like to keep it irreverent and downright silly. Because hey, who doesn’t need an investigative interview series conducted by a dog?! And so, I hope you’ll enjoy Frugal Hound Sniffs! If you’d prefer a more, ahem, financial independence-related post, start here. Howdy Cyber Space....

Achieving early retirement isn’t something everyone can do. I wish I could say that if everyone would just save a little more, and live a bit farther below their means, and avoid buying an SUV, they’d be able to quit their jobs and live the life they crave. But that’s not the reality. There’s structural privilege inherent in our ability to pursue financial independence at a young age. Mr. Frugalwoods and I have made a lot of amazing financial...

Woot We are undergoing what could only be described as an unprecedentedly gigantic amount of snow here in the Boston area. The total stands at 71″ (aka over 5.5 feet) in the past 19 days with more predicted to fall. In case you were wondering, this quantity of snow yields snowbanks taller than two Frugal Hounds stacked on top of each other (now that’s a lot of hound). It’s been snowfall after snowfall in a gloriously epic saga...

The only problem I have with winter is that it puts a serious cramp in our trash finding endeavors. There’s just no way to locate great trash with 4 feet of snow on the ground. Believe me folks, I’ve tried so you don’t have to (you’re welcome). As I gaze out our back door into the epic tundra Cambridge has become, I thought I’d reflect on some of the gosh darn prettiest things we found...

Greetings frugal friends! Welcome to Part 3 of our Frugal Homestead Series, which explores the finer points of how we’re going to reach our version of financial independence and move to a homestead in the woods in 2017 at age 33. Mr. Frugalwoods and I plan to buy 20+ acres of wooded land, likely with an existing home and outbuildings, in rural southern Vermont. Today in Part 3 of the series, I’m delving into the rationale behind our tentative selection...

Mr. Frugalwoods gave me a haircut last week and, as I shared on Twitter: 1) we’re still married and 2) it looks really good! I’ll admit, we were both a bit nervous and there were a few tense words, but it worked out just dandy. In other news, I’ll be nominating him for husband of the year (is that a real award? it should be) shortly. There are a number of guides out there on how to...

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